I don't necessarily disagree, I was just theorizing as to the intent behind the decision, not defending it.

DK actually holds 60fps the vast majority of the time, maybe they just figured that 30fps for like 2% of the time was better than an input delay 100% of the time.

If they can just fix VRR, it would be a non-issue, so here's hoping.

They, unfortunately, always are. Not to mention that base CP2077, that in GPU tests runs at half the framerate on the same GPU as Elden Ring, runs fine on NS2.

So yeah, this is pretty much mostly down to From Software and not NS2.

No doubt that is true, but boss fights are when the input lag matters the most and that is when fps fall off a cliff.  

The S2 would be perfect, imo, if it had to improvements:

1) vrr

2) dock wasn't a PoS, actually had good cooling so docked the clocks speeds could be bumped up significantly (ex. Cpu at 1.5 ghz instead of 1.0)

As it stands I give the S2 a 8/10 for hardware.

I agree as far as boss fights needing better performance, though the only ones I found top be problematic in this regard where the final phases of both Void Kong fights. Still, yeah, it could be better.

As far as CPU clocks go, Nintendo has kept them largely the same between docked and portable on both Switch 1 and 2, probably cos they want the core game experience to be the same whether docked or portable. It's the GPU clocks and RAM bandwidth that get a boost, in order to improve resolution when playing on a big screen.

The boost there seems fairly decent, with Mario Kart for instance going from 1080p in portable mode to 1440p docked.

The fps impact was limited to specific sections and DK is still my goty.  But the frustration is because there is no excuse or justification.  VRR is basic in 2025.  And we had this same issue with LA and EoW....  I mean this is just Nintendo being silly.  

VRR does need to be fixed, yes, and hopefully it will be.

LA and EoW were an interesting case, as both were actually developed by an external studio, Grezzo, and the framerate fluctuations seem to be an issue with their n-house engine, namely how it streams data, since the drops primarily occur in the overworld when moving between areas.

Hopefully this won't be an issue on Switch 2 with its much faster storage and larger/faster RAM pool.

Not for docked play.  Even if Nintendo eventually supported VRR on TV, I'm not a fan of VRR being seen as a magic fix because the majority of people do not have a compatible display.

My LG 55 OLED  from 2021 was medium/high range and doesn't have that feature. All decent TVs being sold today will have it but most people updated to 4k sets in the late 2010s/early 2020s and won't be upgrading again for a while yet :/

Just reffed chat GPT out of curiosity

"Mainstream TVs with VRR were still relatively rare in 2020. Only select brands and models, particularly higher-end lines, supported it "

I done a little digging (chatgpt) because it got me curious about what was happening in all the other games we're seeing without this double buffer drop. I'm not especially sensitive to input lag, so not sure it would bother me and surely if 90% of games use it, it doesn't bother most gamers at this point? 


Triple Buffer is the solution that adds most input latency, but allows organic FPS fluctuations, holding a frame in reserve. Mostly used for 30fps games. 

• With triple buffering, the GPU has another frame in reserve, so instead of dropping straight to 20 fps, it can deliver a frame slightly late (~28 fps, ~25 fps), producing smoother motion.
  
  Triple buffering was used in PS4 games like Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus remake, and The Last Guardian (patched).

But importantly, it is not really used in 60fps games like Donkey Kong because its not needed.

• Setup: V-Sync ON, double buffering.

• At 60 Hz, the frame budget is 16.7 ms. If a frame takes, say, 20 ms (≈50 fps), it misses the 16.7 ms refresh, but can still be shown on the next refresh cycle (≈33.3 ms). Because it doesn’t have to wait a full two cycles (like a 30 fps cap would), you see smoothish values like 55, 52, 48 fps.

• This is why many unlocked 60 fps console modes fluctuate in the 40–60 fps zone

• Some engines enforce strict frame pacing: if you miss the 16.7 ms slot, the engine deliberately waits until the next even 33.3 ms slot. That forces the game into 30 fps behaviour even though it’s targeting 60fps. Reason is developers may prefer perfect pacing (no jitter) over fluctuating performance.

Looking at DK in isolation I would suspect the frame rate is all over the place in these boss battles, so instead of constantly fluctuating a tonne & generally being well below 50 anyeway, they decided to just fix it to 30fps during these portion. This is my presumption. 

Mario Odyssey (presumably on the same engine) does not drop to 30 and instead has drops into the 50s (8:52). I presume DKs are way more dramatic which is the reason for this solution. 



For me, what is actually very interesting is to think the Switch 2 was being developed alongside Donky Kong. This must have caused some tension in regards to the systems target specs, it's not ideal for a team to have to make such severe sacrifices so early into a systems life.

So I got Madden 26 for Switch 2.

When first booting up the game, the frame rate drop to Switch 2 immediately felt noticeable, I've always been used to Madden games being a solid 60fps, so going down to 30 at first felt a bit jarring but not necessarily a huge deal.

The games resolution is also noticeably lower, a bit more pixalated and the field textures aren't as defined.

However, after playing it a while I didnt even notice these things, it still felt like Madden, it looks close enough to the 9th gen versions of the games where it feels like you're playing the same game, it plays good.

When I then played this game in handheld mode it honestly looked and played better and you dont even notice the drawbacks at all. It felt amazing to play a 9th gen looking game on a portable device like this. The primary purpose of getting the Switch 2 version for most people would be the option to play the full Madden experience on the go where people dont need to sit up on the TV all the time to play the game, and Madden 26 does that amazingly on Switch 2.

In terms of other drawbacks, it is disappointing that there are no cross saves between platforms, im sure many people would love to have the Switch 2 version to play it on the go while they can continue their progress on another platform that runs the game better on TV, so disappointing that wasn't included.

Also no cross play is disappointing too, even though the Switch 2 version of Madden is selling very well, the primary platforms for this game would likely still be on Xbox/PS, so you'd be missing out on playing against a bigger player base or from even playing with your friends who are on other platforms, which is huge for some people. Hopefully EA could add an update to this cause they did crossplay on the Switch version of Apex Legends even though it was only half the frame rate of other platforms.

So to summarize, Madden 26 on Switch 2 is an enjoyable port, even though I think they could've done better in some areas.

Update on this.

Final Fantasy VII Remake apparently runs at 40fps on Nintendo Switch 2 - My Nintendo News

Apparently the Demo was running at 40 fps.
Not sure if that is with DLSS, but that is higher than it was on PS4 (30fps), though falls short of the 60fps on PS5.